Cell Phone Ads ’Misleading’

Cell Phone Ads ’Misleading’
Fierce competition in the mobile telecommunications market has ince again raised concerns over fairness, as operators continue to exercise advertising strategies many perceive as potentially misleading. Anxious to avoid repeated incidents, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) has demanded the government step in and evaluate circulating advertisements for mobile phone services. Speaking on behalf of YLKI, Tulus Abadi said the ads lured customers using “old gimmicks” offering “low, lower or lowest” tariffs but failed to present necessary terms and conditions that came with offers. The heated advertising battle began around the end of last year, when PT Exelcomindo announced it product XL-Bebas offering Rp 1 per second rates. The second biggest player in the market PT Indosat, retaliated by promoting its Mentari offering a so-called “zero tariff”. At present, Exelcomindo is advertising a new tariff of “Rp 0,00000…1 per second” for XL Bebas, while Indosat are offering “Rp 0,0000000000…1per second” that applies to “all operators, anytime and anywhere.” The government needs to make sure these claims are true. The current advertising campaigns fail to provide consumers with details and were therefore dangerous. Consequently consumers are choosing services with almost no understanding of what is being advertised. Advertisement should not only seduce, but also educate.